TENNIS – There no longer appears to be a “Big Four” of men’s tennis. It’s more like the “King and the Next Four” now that the first Grand Slam of the year is history. Obviously, Novak Djokovic is the best player in the game at the moment. Of course, that could change in a one-month span in early summer. By James Beck
There no longer appears to be a “Big Four” of men’s tennis.
It’s more like the “King and the Next Four” now that the first Grand Slam of the year is history.
Obviously, Novak Djokovic is the best player in the game at the moment. Of course, that could change in a one-month span in early summer.
Murray And Nadal Almost Back
The most significant occurrences in this Australian Open other than Djokovic’s march to his fifth title Down Under and fourth in the last five years, and Roger Federer’s early departure, were the reemmergences of Andy Murray and Rafa Nadal at the top of their games, if only for a couple of matches in Nadal’s case.
Neither Nadal or Murray won the tournament, and both suffered embarrassing 6-0 setbacks, but it was the flashes of brillance that both demonstrated in their defeats that impressed me. Those efforts make me believe that both Nadal and Murray are near full recovery to their former levels of play, prior to Murray’s back surgery two years ago and Nadal’s recent long layoff due to injury and health issues.
Murray was superb for much of his long four-set final against Djokovic. The Scotsman just needs to develop his game so he can sustain consistency when he goes for winners. He committed too many errors on what should have been winners to open courts against Djokovic. Novak was able to out-defense Murray, and come up with the big groundstroke more consistently than Murray.
Novak Will Be Difficult To Catch
Djokovic is at a place where it will be difficult for anyone to catch him. But Nadal and Murray might be the best bests to accomplish that task. And don’t forget Stan Wawrinska, possibly the most dangerous player in the game. When Wawrinska is on, he is probably more dominant and dangerous than anyone in the game, including Djokovic.
Federer still has some big moments left in his career, although they may not include another Grand Slam title. Right now, I see Federer as the fifth-best player in the game, the last member of the “Next Four.”
Tomas Berdych may have dominated Nadal much of their quarterfinal, but the vanilla-like play of Berdych may never earn a Grand Slam title. He’s not in the class of the “Next Four” or Djokovic as an athlete, although he occasionally may sneak up on one of them with his big strokes and serve.
No Update On Nadal’s Status
No word has come out about another Nadal injury, and it may not, but Nadal obviously wasn’t his self in his straight-set loss to Berdych. Something was wrong. It was surprising that the TV analysts did not pick up on anything being wrong with Nadal until late in the match when Nadal appeared to be near the top of his game at times. The analysts were too busy heaping praise on Berdych’s play to notice that Nadal wasn’t energized in his normal style of play.
Berdych did look awesome at times against Nadal, but when an opponent doesn’t even attempt to run down shots that he normally would get to, something usually is wrong with the player when the player in question is Nadal. The Spanish great looked like he wanted to be anywhere other than Rod Laver Arena on the night Berdych broke his long losing streak to Nadal.
Of course, Berdych resorted back to his true form in the semifinals against Murray. Berdych just doesn’t seem to have the tenacity, intensity and focus to reach true elite status in the sport.
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James Beck is the long-time tennis columnist for the Charleston (S.C.) Post and Courier newspaper. He can be reached at Jamesbecktennis@gmail.com
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